First Visit to the Oncologist

Hi everyone,

My internet has been acting goofy this evening so I couldn't get online until now. Anyway, I went with my mom and Sally to the first appointment with the oncologist today. First off, I want to say that all three of us really liked the oncologist -- she was very calming and down to earth. I got a good vibe from her and she spent a lot of time with us. She did confirm that the cancer is in Stage IV - which is the highest and most severe. She estimated that the cancer has only been there for somewhere between 4 months and 1 year. She told us that based on how the cancer cells are acting, it is a very aggressive form.

Here's the story -- kidney cancer does not typically respond well to chemotherapy and/or radiation so that won't be recommended. There is an IV treatment that has been found to be effective, however since the cancer has spread to her liver it wouldn't be safe to do that treatment. So, you may be wondering what it is that will be recommended right? Okay, so the recommendation is for what they call a "targeted therapy" which is a drug called Sutent. The treatment plan will be to take the medication - one pill a day - for 4 weeks then take 2 weeks off. The oncologist said they typically do two of those cycles and then do another CT scan. The goal of treatment at this point is to prolong her life and to keep her quality of life as high as possible.

Also, at this point, they are not recommending the removal of her left kidney - which is where the cancer started. Apparently removing it wouldn't do anything positive as far as treatmen tor prognosis goes. They would consider removing it if in the future one of two things happens: there is bleeding such as blood in her urine or if the pain gets much more severe than it is now. Again, that would only be done for comfort for her.

While she is on the Sutent treatment, she will be monitored with blood tests and such to make sure that her liver functioning is okay and that her blood counts hopefully get better. The oncologist is also having my mom go in tomorrow for a blood transfusion which should help quite a bit with energy and feeling better in general. I'm not sure if that will be recurring, but I'm sure it will be a possibility depending on how things go. If this treatment works, they will continue with it. If it works for a period of time or doesn't work or her body doesn't tolerate the drug, they will seek out other options. The other treatment options if this does not work are either an IV treatment once a week or another medication that would be taken orally.

Some of you may also be wondering about the survival rate/prognosis. At this point, the oncologist believes it is less than 15% for a 5 year survival rate due to the aggressive nature of her cancer as well as the fact that it has already spread to two other organs. She also included in that estimation some of the blood test results that might decrease survival rates because it increases the severity of the cancer - such as high calcium and low hemoglobin.

I think that's it for now....if I think of anything else I will add it as it comes to me. Feel free to call either Chad or me if you have questions and we will do our best to answer them.

We love you all and thank you for your ongoing support....it is truly priceless.

Abby

The first posting

Hi everyone,

This is my first posting about my mom's newly diagnosed cancer. At this point, all we know is that she has been diagnosed with kidney cancer which has metastisized to her lungs and liver. She went to the urologist yesterday who told her that the oncologist will be calling most of the shots. He said that at this point it would probably not be helpful to remove the kidney where the cancer started as it has spread beyond the kidney into the vein there. She sees the oncologist today and we'll see what he or she says and what kind of treatment options are available.

I'll write more after that appointment which is this afternoon.